Preventing the recruiter runaround

Are you frustrated that recruiters don’t seem to be returning your calls?

It helps to understand the role of a recruiter in the job-search process. Recruiters work for the employer and will honor their client’s wishes even though you may think you are their client. That’s never the case. The employer is always the client, and recruiters always pay attention to their needs first, because that’s the recruiter’s job.

It seems logical that the more recruiters who see your resume, the better chance you have of being exposed to future employers. That’s the reasoning behind the strategy of using multiple recruiters. In reality, when you contact too many recruiters your resume could be submitted to the same employer by a different recruiter.

Top-notch recruiters can take on a consultant-like role with the employer. As with every field, you will have recruiters who really enjoy partnering with clients to assist them in bringing top talent to the organization, and you will have those who are more focused on filling positions using a quantity-versus-quality mindset.

If you want to prevent the runaround that happens when people submit their resumes to recruiters &emdash; only to get silence for weeks on end &emdash; you can, to a degree.

Ideally, you want to do your due diligence and interview recruiters before submitting your resume. You want to understand their communication style and when you can expect a follow-up call. When there is no communication, you’re left to fill in the blanks, and that can be frustrating.

Getting the runaround is a sign you could be just another candidate and lack a relationship connection. Working with recruiters is like building a good networking relationship, it’s an exchange of information.

Most of all, you can control your selection of recruiters and limit how many you will use. What message do you send an employer when they receive multiple copies of your resume from various recruiters? Using too many recruiters can take away your appearance of uniqueness to a potential employer.

Not only can you lose that “exclusive” feel to employers, but you can lose some control of your job search when you work with recruiters. You could end up like the job seeker who was shocked to see his resume being shopped to employers with his compensation clearly indicated on the resume. Being in control of your career by asking recruiters questions up front helps avoid unexpected surprises.